Tag Archives: Valentines Day

Yummy Cheated Toffee Muffins

Posted by ohnicolajoy in Eat This! and tagged with , , , , , , ,

Ever feel the urge to get your bake on but just don’t have the time or energy or fresh eggs for that matter? Have friends coming round in half an hour and nothing nice for them to eat?

If any of the above are common problems for you then just one clever move next time you visit a supermarket will see you right. Behold, the totally cheated, yummy toffee muffin:

All you need to do is browse the baking section next time your out grocery shopping. There will be a selection of items intended for making larger cakes and loaves in nice flavours. There will also be the little muffin baking kits, which I have used in the past, but this way, you get more,  they will be nicer and are a total bargain.

I used Wright’s Baking toffee cake mix:

You simply need to mix it with water and oil. Instead of pouring into a lined loaf tin, use a muffin tray with paper cases. Eat the leftover mixture, if nobody’s looking.

You will need to alter the cooking time from that of a loaf, so instead of taking about an hour they will only need about fifteen to twenty minutes at around 200 Degrees Celsius.

Having saved so much time in the preparation I covered mine in chocolate and sweets.

What was my excuse? I did not have friends coming over, I had fresh eggs, flour and sugar etc and had not had a longer day at work than expected. I’m just lazy and wanted to fill the house with gorgeous toffee smells and eat warm cakes but without doing loads of cleaning up afterwards.

Be My Valenstein…

Posted by ohnicolajoy in Craftings and tagged with , , , , , ,

There are some who go all out and buy the novelty giant cards, overfill the restaurants  and pay triple the normal rate for a red rose or twelve. Then there’s the rest of us…quietly confident that love is more than grand gestures on specified days.

My boyfriend hates it and, luckily for him, I’m not overly bothered if I don’t receive some awful Moonpig.com same as everyone else’s tailored to your individual needs card.

I do love crafting, however and have vowed this year to embrace every seasonal event in an attempt to provide constant inspiration and use up my materials stash.

I found the perfect solution on one of my favourite websites: Cut Out + Keep | Make and share step-by-step craft tutorials…a valentines themed craft swap. I created the following:

Paper heart garland, created using old books.

Shakespeare’s Sonnets were used to make the large flat hearts.

I named these “Love Potion Cookies” as they contained several ingredients used in traditional love potions, such as cinnamon, vanilla and ginger.

This card was made using different fabric, papers and inks.

This is a mini picture frame made from polymer clay and tiny gems.

How it looked when packaged and ready to be sent.

Luckily I realised that the original heart garland was full of swearwords as I simply grabbed an old book I’d bought from a charity shop that had been read and was not a keeper. I found my old A level copy of Shakespeare’s Sonnets and used pages that were not covered in notes by my seventeen year old self. Disaster averted.